The day Georgette Jones was born, record producer Billy Sherrill was ready with a signed record contract.

The new parents, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, were after all considered country music royalty.

“I think it was more a gesture than anything else,” Georgette Jones said with a laugh. “Billy Sherrill was such great friends with my parents and they had such a love for each other’s music that I think he wanted first dibs if I had a music career.”

Jones, the only child of country legends Tammy Wynette and George Jones, will kick off the “Balloons over RussVegas” hot air balloon festival at the Russellville Center for the Arts on the campus of Russellville High School. Jones said the May 1 show will be a tribute show featuring her parents’ music.

With both having passed away, Wynette in 1998 and George Jones just last April, Jones felt it was very important to keep their memory and their music alive. Wynette and Jones married in 1969, and Georgette was born in 1970. As she grew, music was all around her as was the media attention her famous parents attracted.

In 2011, Jones released a book, “The Three of Us, Growing Up Tammy and George.”

Jones said she had read a book written about her mother the previous year and wanted to set the record straight on who her mother really was.

“She had a wonderful sense of humor and was strong and independent,” Jones said. “She believed in living life to the fullest.” She said both of her parents weren’t really the way they were portrayed in the media.

While her father was cast as hard-core and someone who liked to party, she said people didn’t know he was light-hearted with a fantastic sense of humor and an old-fashioned way about him. Jones and Wynette divorced in 1975, and Georgette’s time with her parents became divided.

Because of their schedules, Jones said, she never saw her dad that much when she was younger. She said it meant so much to her when she recorded “Daddy Come Home” with her father when she was 10 years old. “I really did mean every word,” she said.

As she continued to grow, Jones knew she loved music, but she’d seen the impact its touring and schedules had on her family.

“I put off a music career for my family, and it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made,” she said. Jones was a nurse for many years while raising her two children, who are now in college.

Her mother’s death on April 6, 1998, impacted Jones deeply.

“I couldn’t even listen to her music until about a year later. Then there came a point when it was helpful and I enjoyed it,” Jones said. “I missed music so much.”

She said this led to her writing more music and thinking about a music career. The progression to her pursuing music was about a five-year process.

“I was not the kind of person who would randomly quit my job,” she said. “I was in between nursing jobs and got the chance to perform in Ireland.”

She said this was the first time she went out on her own as a musician.

“So much happened on this trip,” Jones said. “I met my husband and a man from Texas with Heart of Texas Records who offered to give me a record label. I didn’t have another job lined up, and I thought maybe I should try it.”

“I’m more ‘me’ than I’ve ever been,” she said of her current work, adding her music has more of an earthy sound than her parents’ country classics.

Jones said during the May 1 show in Russellville, she’ll share stories of how certain songs came about and she’ll tell stories about her parents’ lives in hopes the audience gets to know who they really were as people.

Tickets are $25 and $20. Call (417) 336-6060 or visit www.balloonsoverrussvegas.com for tickets.